U2 BOOTS UP THE CHART

All those TV appearances, all those award show performances, all those online retail deals paid off for U2, whose Interscope album, No Line on the Horizon, will debut at #1 next week, with a respectable, if not overwhelming, total between 400-450k.

That’s based on one-day sales reports from those retailers who still have their doors open, as well as the usual online suspects.

Credit a marketing component involving Starbucks and $3.99 downloads at AmazonMP3.com for helping the iconic Irish rockers, who now have their own street with their names on it in Manhattan, with the year’s best sales debut. Springsteen was the previous record-holder, with sales of 211k for his Working on a Dream album, which came out last month.

By comparison, U2’s last album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which came out in Nov. 2004, admittedly during the Q4 rush, sold 840k its first week out.

Other Top 50 bows will include Anti’s Neko Case ( 35-40k) and Thrive’s Total Dance 2009 (15-20k).

Hitting stores next Tuesday (3/10) will be RCA/RMG's Idol sweetheart Kelly Clarkson, fresh off a hit single that doesn't "Suck," and Def Jam/IDJ R&B crooner The-Dream.

The market was down 7% vs. last week, down 13% vs. same week last year and still down 12% year to date.

Wonder if Bernie Madoff’s renting out that spare room in his penthouse…